


Not All Capes Are Heroes, Not All Heroes Are Capes

by WhyWhyNot



Series: Stepfather would be the closest word but it doesn’t quite fit [45]
Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25606963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyWhyNot/pseuds/WhyWhyNot
Summary: Mister Wallis has a talk with Agnes in the hospital.
Series: Stepfather would be the closest word but it doesn’t quite fit [45]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785541
Comments: 18
Kudos: 64





	Not All Capes Are Heroes, Not All Heroes Are Capes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gerbilfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerbilfriend/gifts).



Taylor comes every afternoon to visit Agnes in the hospital.

Most of the time, Danny is the one who drives her there. Taylor says _that night_ scared him, and he’s trying to spend more time with her.

(Agnes thinks Taylor is avoiding Mister Wallis. Thinks Taylor is upset at what she learned _that night_.)

(Agnes is just glad to be alive, but Mister Wallis isn’t part of _her_ family. She’d be upset, too, if he were.)

Most of the time, it’s Danny who drives Taylor to the hospital. Until he gets caught by work, and Mister Wallis has to do it.

He stays outside the room, only coming in when Taylor has to leave for the bathroom. 

(He looks tired. Agnes isn’t surprised. Not with the Empire trying to get the ABB’s former territories under their control.)

“Thank you,” he says, and it doesn’t make any sense, because _she_ should be the one thanking _him_.

She stares at him.

“For the early warning,” he explains after a few seconds of silence. “Things would have been a lot worse without it.”

Oh.

It doesn’t feel like something she should be thanked for.

“Arcadia blew up,” she says. “The Boat Graveyard, too, and I put the bomb there myself.”

She saw in on thenews,. The floating ships.

Some people say it’s beautiful. Agnes imagines people being crushed by the moving metal and shivers.

(The woman who did it put a bomb inside Agnes. Death is no less terrible when it comes with beauty.)

(The dead man’s blood was dark on the floor.)

“Arcadia was empty,” Mister Wallis says. “So was the Boat Graveyard. You allowed us to defuse most of Bakuda’s bombs, including the ones in the hostages.”

The hostages. The crying boy who took her to Bakuda. She doesn’t know what happened to him. 

(She hopes he’s okay.)

Mister Wallis puts a business card on the bed. There’s a name on it, Taryn Cantrell, and a phone number.

“A therapist,” he explains. “She’s not formally affiliated with the PRT, but she’s cleared to know about… A few things. If you go to her, you will be able to talk about _everything_ that happened that night.”

His identity. Agnes wouldn’t have been able to talk about it with another therapist.

Footsteps in the hallway. Taylor is coming back.

Mister Wallis makes to leave, but stops at the door.

“Don’t be mistaken, Agnes. You _saved_ lives. You may not have powers, but that night? You were a hero.”

The door closes behind him, and Agnes look at the business card in her hand.

She thinks about the dead man’s blood on the floor. About the weight of the bomb in her bag. About the stitches tearing through her side as she ran.

She thinks she might try calling the number under Taryn Cantrell’s name.


End file.
